Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole: The Fur Trappers' Exploration of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton Park RegionMattes, Merrill J.
History
Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole: The Fur Trappers' Exploration of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton Park Region
Mattes, Merrill J.
Grand Teton National Park (Wyo.); Yellowstone National Park
An epidemic of hydrophobia brought on by “mad wolves” seems to have
contributed to the early break-up of the 1833 meeting. Campbell, Wyeth,
and the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company with fifty-five packs
of beaver and a strong guard circled down through South Pass and up to
the junction of the Shoshone and the Bighorn rivers, where they embarked
on bullboats for the mouth of the Yellowstone. Here Wyeth was
entertained at the palatial Fort Union by the famous Kenneth McKenzie,
and observed a powder flask which had belonged to the unfortunate More,
and which had found its way here from Jackson’s Hole by the devious
channels of the fur trade.
While Bonneville outfitted an expedition under Joseph R. Walker to
explore California (and discover Yosemite Valley), the American Fur
Company brigades headed for the Snake River country. On July 20 Warren
A. Ferris and Robert Newell departed at the head of an outfit destined
for the Flathead trade. The little party consisted of six “engages” with
pack horses, and five armed Indians, amounting in all to thirteen armed
men. Their route was the usual one via Hoback Canyon and Teton Pass. The
ecstatic description of Jackson’s Hole from the summit of the pass,
given by Ferris on this occasion, is one which can be appreciated by the
modern tourist:
... Gazing down in the direction of Jackson’s Hole, from our elevated
position, one of the most beautiful scenes imaginable, was presented
to our view. It seemed quite filled with large bright clouds,
resembling immense banks of snow, piled on each other in massy
numbers, of the purest white; wreathing their ample folds in various
forms and devious convolutions, and mingling in one vast embrace their
shadowy substance.—Sublime creations! emblems apt of the first
glittering imaginings of human life!...
Turning with reluctance to things of a more terrestrial nature we
pursued our way down to Pierre’s Hole, where we fortunately discovered
and killed a solitary bull....
The rendezvous of 1834 was scheduled for June on Ham’s Fork of the Green
near present Granger, Wyoming; and here converged all the scattered
trapper bands, with the exception of those in the pay of Bonneville, who
had his own private rendezvous on Bear River. Drips hunted up the Snake
River to Jackson’s Hole, and apparently crossed into the valley of the
Green from there. Behind him came Ferris. On his southward journey from
Montana country, Ferris decided to make a side trip from Henry’s Fork to
investigate strange rumors concerning the upper Madison, a trip which
resulted in the second known published description of the Yellowstone
Park wonders.
[Illustration: Fort Hall.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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